Children's Witnessing of Adult Domestic Violence

Abstract

Social service professionals are more frequently identifying children who witness adult domestic violence as victims of that abuse. This article expands common definitions of how children witness adult domestic violence. A total of 31 research articles that met established quality criteria were included in this review. A variety of behavioral, emotional, and cognitive-functioning problems among children were found to be associated with exposure to domestic violence. Factors that appear to moderate the impact of witnessing violence—such as whether the child was also abused, child gender and age, and the time since last exposure to violence—were identified. Concerns about research methodology used in this area of research and the application of this knowledge also are raised.